Mauprat eBook

What most contributed to the recurrence of these unseemly
wrangles and to the growth of my ridiculous obstinacy
was my uncle’s extreme goodness and the rapidity
of his recovery. At the end of an hour he had
entirely forgotten my rudeness and his own irritation.
He would speak to me as usual and inquire into all
my wishes and all my wants with that fatherly solicitude
which always kept him in a benevolent mood. This
incomparable man could never had slept had he not,
before going to bed, embraced all his family, and
atoned, either by a word or a kindly glance, for any
ebullitions of temper which the meanest of his servants
might have had to bear during the day. Such goodness
ought to have disarmed me and closed my mouth forever.
Each evening I vowed that it should; but each morning
I returned, as the Scriptures say, to my vomit again.

Edmee suffered more and more every day from this development
of my character. She cast about for means to
cure it. If there was never fiancee stronger-minded
and more reserved than she, never was there mother
more tender. After many discussions with the abbe
she resolved to persuade her father to change the
routine of our life somewhat, and to remove our establishment
to Paris for the last weeks of the carnival.
Our long stay in the country; the isolation which the
position of Sainte-Severe and the bad state of the
roads had left us since the beginning of winter; the
monotony of our daily life—­all tended to
foster our wearisome quibbling. My character was
being more and more spoilt by it; and though it afforded
my uncle even greater pleasure than myself, his health
suffered as a result, and the childish passions daily
aroused were no doubt hastening his decay. The
abbe was suffering from ennui; Edmee was depressed.
Whether in consequence of our mode of life or owing
to causes unknown to the rest, it was her wish to go,
and we went; for her father was uneasy about her melancholy,
and sought only to do as she desired. I jumped
for joy at the thought of seeing Paris; and while
Edmee was flattering herself that intercourse with
the world would refine the grossness of my pedantry,
I was dreaming of a triumphal progress through the
world which had been held up to such scorn by our
philosophers. We started on our journey one fine
morning in March; the chevalier with his daughter
and Mademoiselle Leblanc in one post-chaise; myself
in another with the abbe, who could ill conceal his
delight at the thought of seeing the capital for the
first time in him life; and my valet Saint-Jean, who,
lest he should forget his customary politeness, made
profound bows to every individual we passed.

XII

Old Bernard, tired from talking so long, had promised
to resume his story on the morrow. At the appointed
hour we called upon him to keep his word; and he continued
thus: